Robin Hood and the Beloved England Spoilers

Robin Hood is one of the symbols of England. A successful director is able to make the audience fall in love with his star. What Ridley Scott cherishes in Robin Hood is his beloved England, the countryside flowing like watercolor, painted in shades of green.

The film appears light-hearted and lively, combining romance and legend, starkly contrasting with the heavy style of "Kingdom of Heaven." "Fairness is the theme of this film," Director Scott said in an interview. However, he wants to avoid deliberately delving into depth here. If it must have a serious theme, it is the inscription on Robin's sword: "Rise and Rise again until Lambs Become Lions." This is related to the Magna Carta, reflecting the British's rational, reformative, and balanced compromising spirit.

A few years ago, an American wrote a book titled "War on the Middle Class." I would really like to recommend this book to my classmates to see how various taxes, such as prices, housing, medical care, and education, destroy the carefully built home nest after ten years of graduation. Of course, in Robin Hood's time, everything was much more straightforward. It was an open competition then; now, it's a covert plunder. Only the most foolish rulers would kill the chicken for the eggs—history cycles through the fluctuations in the fatness of the sheep's pen. In any case, being born into the middle class is a mistake.

Scott seems to be adept at using costume dramas to teach Americans earnestly. During the Gladiator, he metaphorically compared Pax Romana to today's Pax Americana. A hundred years of prosperity he has led to the decay of an empire from the inside out. Later, with "Kingdom of Heaven," he strongly criticized the two "Crusades" separated by a thousand years. Of course, that film was too serious, and its box office was disappointing. Now, he has made a film about the rebellion of sheep in the pen; I wonder if he wants to encourage the American people to join the Tea Party. Actually, I suspect that Scott did not intend to make Robin Hood too serious this time. The early versions of the script were said to be like a medieval CSI, with the protagonist being a prosecutor in Nottingham. After many twists and turns, a product that sells modern themes in classical attire has emerged.

Well, let's not talk about politics and nonsense. I recommend focusing on the aesthetics. Although it is just an outer shell, the beauty of the classical has soaked into every fiber of the fabric, giving the entire film a rich and intense historical aroma. After all, this is Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, Ridley Scott's England, and Russell Crowe's "dream at the age of five." There is nothing better than a talented singer narrating his beloved homeland.

Scott's shots are grand, with a strong taste of academia, sometimes reminiscent of David Lean. He uses gorgeous long photos, soaring overhead views, and flowing ink-like colors to make people marvel at the charm of spring snow. He remembers to take care of the details of the devil. Although the Crusade's siege was very bloody, the technical details were thorough; the farming in the manor looked pastoral, but the hardships in the muddy fields were not overlooked. I stare at the indoor scenes, with my inherent nerdiness, thinking that there were no chimneys at that time and the smell in the court of the English king must have been fantastic. The great director Ridley Scott may have made a bit of a joke by putting a few mice on the jade and stone table.

Compared with other "epic" style films, Scott's ancient war scenes seem far from violent. He prefers to express violence in modern warfare. The bone fragments in "Body of Lies" and the intestines in "Black Hawk Down" are shocking. But in costume dramas, he focuses more on technical details at the micro level and uses romanticism at the macro level. Although his heroes will roar and surge with hormones, they will not lose their nature or doubt the meaning of their existence. His heroes fight for their homeland and loved ones. Such a warrior image existed only before World War I and is now gone.

Knights under Scott's lens have always been following the horse's momentum, and the horse follows the wind. This perfectly depicts the legend. In "Kingdom of Heaven," the knights in chimney-covered suits have extraordinary figures. I am curious to know how the costume designer did it. Although the armor in this film has been replaced with improved chainmail, it unexpectedly sets off several main characters with beautiful and slender figures, even though they need attendants to help unbutton those damn buttons. Robin's posture of taking off the chainmail is exactly the same as the mural in the Byzantine church. The men's clothing without armor is also incredibly handsome: broad shoulders, narrow hips, long leather boots (it is said that real boots in history should be long to the thigh, probably another innovation by the Frenchman who invented SM), inside and outside are mostly solid good leather goods, belts are tied below the abdomen, in the style of heavy metal simplicity. Almost casually hanging is a thick and vigorous long sword. This is undoubtedly the most naked confession of the costume designer in the sensory world. Byzantine emperors lacked curves in their eight-body shape, and the portraits of Renaissance nobles mostly had protruding bellies. However, several older wise men in the film resemble Jeremy Irons, and even Russell Crowe's casually open collar is suggestive, although his collar is still tightly wrapped inside.

Similar to the costume design, the love in the film is a perfect blend of straightforwardness and restraint, being both unrestrained and restrained. Cate Blanchett's straw-like figure can douse any man's interest, almost making people suspect whether Lady Marion and Robin's love is Platonic. But when the flames in the fireplace jump, the night rain drifts in with the wind, and Lady Marion's dress floats like a billowing sail in the thunder and lightning, half of the screen is flames and half is seawater, you have to admit that although this scene is cheesy, this woman's figure in the wind and rain is suitable for Elizabeth and Catherine in Wuthering Heights. Her resilience and purity tease the Europeans' Joan of Arc complex. Her sexiness has nothing to do with curves but goes deep into the bone marrow, which is very British.

As for Robin, the hero, director Scott chose his old partner Russell Crowe, probably the most conservative choice. After all, the public's aesthetics are very dull. If you want box office, a director must have a hero in the traditional sense. But now Hollywood is not lacking in muscular men or sensitive animals, but it isn't easy to find classical masculinity. Fortunately, Ridley Scott likes this. Hollywood has many similar old partners, and there is always some agreement in the stench. Even James Cameron once self-deprecatingly said: "I need the next Russell Crowe."

This Robin is not tall, a bit rascally, but very mature. He is "mature" enough to peek at a beauty changing clothes with a dog in his arms without losing his stance. The long-haired dog curled comfortably in Robin's arms added a lot of points to the mature man. Robin's three buddies, plus a monk, are also very cute, born with a bold and fearless British fan style. What's more rare is that everyone's teeth are also very traditional: the British have been proud of their uneven yellow teeth for centuries.

The most beautiful part of the film is the pastoral life in Nottingham territory. In the vibrant segment, the plot is very malicious, catering to the public and allowing the male and female protagonists to have a dirty joke. This joke is so innocent but unpredictable that the story's characters become exceptionally cute. Robin, with a stern face, reluctantly helps Marion onto the horse. At this moment, I remembered the director Scott's interview, where he talked about another advantage of choosing Crowe: "(In addition to playing a great hero) he can relax casually, play jokes casually. You can count this as sexy..." So that's how it is.

Don't worry; Robin Hood's story is always a happy one. Good people will eventually defeat the bad, and the male and female protagonists will always live happily ever after. The legendary men in Sherwood Forest are probably still drinking big bowls of wine and eating big chunks of meat, and they don't have to think about whether to continue rebelling or be pardoned. Their legends have nothing to do with politics, although the screenwriter joked that Robin's father wrote the first version of the Magna Carta... Sometimes, being a history buff can be a bad thing.

The film begins with running children in the dense forest and ends with the same running children. But the beginning is dark and depressing, and the end is bright and sunny. The picture and music turn into a flowing watercolor; the few slender and agile figures are healthy and happy like animals. In the sound of the flute, Greenwood is vibrant. Robin Hood's story has just begun and will continue to be passed down.